Internet-facing zone's protection profile leaves a flood type unprotected
At a glance
Base severity
Area
Platform
Evidence level
Benchmark reference
Reads the export, not the device
ConfigProof reads a configuration export. This control is evaluated against the objects in that file, and it reports what the file says. It does not connect to the device and sees no traffic, so a finding here describes the configuration, not what the firewall is doing right now.
Why it matters
Each flood type is a separate way to exhaust the firewall's session table from outside. A profile that protects against SYN floods and not UDP or ICMP floods leaves the others open on exactly the zone they arrive on.
How to fix it
Web interface
The steps below are written for the web interface. A finding raised on your own export carries the same steps with your object names filled in.
- Enable SYN, UDP, ICMP, ICMPv6 and other IP flood protection in the profile, with thresholds tuned to the zone's traffic.
Command line
PAN-OS CLI
set network profiles zone-protection-profile <object-name> flood tcp-syn enable yesset network profiles zone-protection-profile <object-name> flood udp enable yesset network profiles zone-protection-profile <object-name> flood icmp enable yesset network profiles zone-protection-profile <object-name> flood icmpv6 enable yesset network profiles zone-protection-profile <object-name> flood other-ip enable yes
An example. Values in angle brackets are yours to supply; a finding on your own export fills in the names it read. Nothing here commits. Review the candidate configuration, then commit it yourself.
Read it back
show network profiles zone-protection-profile <object-name>Values to fill in1
- <object-name>
- The object's name, as it appears on your firewall
Before you type it2
- Flood thresholds depend on what this link normally carries. Measure before you set them.
- Set only the profiles the group is missing. The rest are already there.
How to confirm the fix
- Reopen the profile's flood protection tab and confirm every type is enabled.
- Review the thresholds against a week of the zone's connection rates before relying on them.
Limits
- A profile with no flood and no reconnaissance protection at all is PAN-SEC-059's finding, and a zone with no profile is PAN-SEC-044's.
- A flood type without an enable leaf counts as off, the default CIS Palo Alto Firewall benchmark 6.16 gives for it.
Compliance references
CIS Palo Alto Firewall 11 Benchmark v1.2.0
Covers part of the recommendation
Where a control aligns with a recommendation of the CIS Palo Alto Firewall 11 Benchmark v1.2.0, that recommendation is cited as a reference. Only that version was checked. A reference is not a certification.
See it on your own firewall
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